Banana Eye

I meant to post this a long time ago, but forgot about having these pictures. Several weeks ago I was in the kitchen after getting the boys going on eating their dinner. I kept hearing them laughing hysterically at each other and I thought to myself, "How sweet. They love each other so much. How cute it is to hear them laughing together." I should have known something was up! When I walked out into the dining room I discovered why they were having such fun together. It wasn't just the innocent, sweet laughter of childhood. Macalan had decided it would be a good idea to smear his banana, as well as applesauce all over his face, including in his hair. Sutton thought it was just hilarious. When I asked him why he did that he said, "Look mom! I'm Banana Eye!" Whatever that means, I don't know, but needless to say he got a bath that night. Oh the joy of having two silly boys!

I probably sent the message of condoning this behavior by taking a picture, but I just couldn't help it. It was pretty funny.

Lazy mom, crazy kids

I feel as if I was able to find time to blog more often when I had a million things going on! I am finding it hard to adjust to not being super busy all the time. Lately I have just been very lazy. Although, I'm great at making "To Do" lists and then not finishing them! :)

My lack of blogging could be due to the fact that my kids are going crazy! Whoever said that 3 was harder than 2 was absolutely right, unfortunately! Macalan has an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other and right now it seems as if the angel is about to get pinned! I feel like I'm living in the movie Groundhog Day. Everyday is the same thing. We wake the boys up, Macalan is in a good mood for a good 10 minutes and then he freaks out because his finger hurts or his diaper is too tight, or we looked at him wrong! From there it's pretty much downhill until we can get him strapped in to his car seat. Fortunately for our daycare lady, he is a perfect little angel all day until we come to get him. Most days I feel like I'm going to have to hog tie him to get him in his coat. The car ride home consists of him complaining about an unGodly number of things, including the sun being in his eyes. He keeps telling me to turn it off! :) When we get home it's just on again/off again until bedtime with several brotherly fights sprinkled in between.

Meanwhile Sutton is being a very good boy. I wish I could rewind to that simple age of being a pre-toddler. Things were so easy with Macalan at this age. I know I should cherish each stage because it goes by fast, but seriously my patience is fried! I said a long prayer (half joking/half serious) on my way to work today that social service wouldn't need to be called to my house in the near future!

In all seriousness I know how lucky I am. I have two great kids that are healthy. I know things can always be worse so I do feel blessed that I am even able to have these daily issues with my kids. It's all a part of parenthood. It helps that I have friends and co-workers who are experiencing the same problems right now. I know I'm not alone!

I am looking forward to two more weeks of work and then a whole week off to play and have fun and hopefully mend some of the problems we are having with our little men. However, time outs and a newly introduce job chart have helped somewhat.

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.
James Thurber

Lost and Found

This past weekend we managed to lose Sutton's nuk somewhere in the house. When bedtime rolled around Sunday night I frantically dumped out toy bins, looked under all the furniture, and anywhere else I could think of as Sutton sat screaming in his crib and, of course, head-butting it because he was so mad. I was planning on taking his nuk away pretty soon anyway, but I didn't like the fact that it was lost and he was going cold turkey. My search turned up nothing even after I interrogated Macalan thinking maybe he took it and hid it somewhere. Sutton actually calmed down after rocking him a little and he ended up going to bed really well without it. You may be wondering why I don't have more than one nuk around the house, but I don't have a good answer for that. We had one or two others at one time, but something mysteriously happened to those as well and I just never got around to buying more.

He hasn't had it since and everything has been going really well. The only annoying thing about him not having it is that now I'm his "security blanket." Whenever he is sad or tired he only wants me and it always seems to be at the those times when I'm getting meals ready or trying to clean up from a meal. Oh well. It does make me feel good to know he needs his mama. Oddly enough Macalan ended up finding the nuk under the coffee table (the only place I guess I didn't look) the other morning before we left for daycare. I quickly grabbed it and hid it in Sutton's drawer so he wouldn't see it. I am kind of weird and like to save their nuks in their keepsake boxes.

On a completely different subject, Kyle and I tried curling the other night and had so much fun! We saw in our church bulletin that the married couples group was going to be having a social event at the curling club in Mankato. We thought we'd give it a try and it was an excuse to get a babysitter and get out of the house. I was really surprised at how well we both did. I was especially surprised at my first time abilities. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not an athlete. I attempt to run, but other than being involved in dance while growing up, I have never really been interested in sports. I'm for sure not olympic material, but hey at least I scored us some points while playing! :) I think we are going to look in to joining a league next year so that we can get out once a week and do something together.

Other than starting the P90X diet and exercise program this week life has quieted down a little for me. I have my gallery walk on Monday night where I present my display board and final paper in a pretty relaxed, fun atmosphere. Some of the head honchos from Concordia will be there, but we also get to invite our families. After that I am DONE until graduation in May!

Well this concludes one of my more boring/long blog posts.

2 Years Later

I am happy and also very proud to say that I completed my master's program tonight! I felt the need to document this occasion on our blog because so much has happened to our family in the last two years. I have had to endure the rigor of reading multiple chapters every week and writing reflections, typing multiple papers, and completing projects. However, my family has given up a lot in order for me to be able to accomplish my goal of earning my master's degree.

It all began when Macalan was just 11 months old. Kyle began the weekly routine of picking him up from daycare and having a "guys" night while I attended my classes. It was only two weeks into my program that I discovered I was pregnant with Sutton. I remember crying tears of joy and fear when I found this out because I couldn't imagine having two kids under the age of 2, working full time, and going to school. I even called my advisor and asked if I should drop out. She simply said, "people get married, get divorced, and have babies while in these cohort programs." After hearing that I decided I would tough it out.

Nine months later my Sutton Button was born! I was able to take one class off so I could just be home with my boys and adjust to a life with two kids. Eight weeks later I jumped back in and took classes through the summer to make up for the one I took off. Kyle also had to adjust to being home one night a week with both boys, as well as taking care of them on his own while I was frantically trying to get something completed for class.

Through all of this though I feel like my kids have been the ones to sacrifice the most. Their needs at times had to be put on the back burner so that I could finish a project or paper. Many times Macalan has said to me "Mommy put your 'puter away." This was always so hard to hear and made me feel so guilty. Sutton has never known anything different. I have been juggling a lot since the day he was born and I wish I could give him back more of my time.

However, now I am so happy to be able to say that all of the sacrifice and lack of time is done! I am looking forward to having more time with my kids and less to worry about. I'm having a hard time believing that I am actually finished. Having all these things to do had just become a way of life over the last two years so it will be a little strange being able to just come home each night and play with the boys. My weekends will no longer include homework!

I will end this blog post with a big THANK YOU to my family. There is no way I could have done this without their support. I am such a lucky wife and mom to have such a supportive and loving family!

I am including a picture of my favorite little guys who make me so happy everyday and who have given up a lot over the past 2 years.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We spent Sunday getting our valentines ready for distribution tomorrow. When I picked the boys up from daycare on Friday we headed to Target to grab what we needed. Of course everything was picked over, but we did manage to find dinosaur valentines for Macalan. That was his only request. Well I shouldn't say his only request. He managed to find several things that he "needed" to have while we walked through the store.
I decided to make cupcakes for the daycare kids. Grandma Mary gave us a cute heart shaped cupcake pan so I thought we should put it to good use. Macalan had fun "helping" me make and decorate the cupcakes. We have this continuous problem where he feels the need to snatch a lick of the batter and icing so I'm constantly washing his hands so he doesn't spread germs.
The pictures are from last weekend when we did a trial run with the new cupcake pan. Trial run is code for I just really needed a cupcake fix!

On a totally different note...Macalan is putting himself to sleep finally! For a long time he has needed us to lay with him until he falls asleep. As much he thought he needed us, I really needed that time with him too. I love cuddling him after story time and watching him fall asleep, but I know it's better for everyone if he starts putting himself to bed. The past couple of nights we have tucked him in and then sat on the stairs below his room so he can know we are there, but not see us. He has cried a little bit, but overall it's going well. I hope we don't have to sit on the stairs for too much longer because my rear-end can't take that much longer! :)

I'm also including a picture from this weekend of Macalan's "experiment." I caught him unloading tons of stuff from one of our cupboards onto the dining room table. When I asked what he was doing he said, "I just doin' an experiment mom. Will you help me solve this problem?" The kid never ceases to amaze me. I don't know where he gets this stuff! I'm wondering if his scientific question had something to do with "how much crap can I put on the table before mom freaks out?"

Sutton's Walking!

Sutton has been taking 2-5 steps here and there for several weeks now, but this past week he decided he was ready to all out walk! Of course the big moment of him taking some substantial steps were while he was at daycare and while I was at night class. Oh well! Macalan did the same thing to me!
It is so cute to see him toddling around. He seems so small (short) to be walking. He is so proud of himself and he can even walk and drink from his sippy cup! Macalan was pretty proud too. When he was walking around on Thursday night he kept saying "Sutton your walkin'! I'm so powd of you!" :)
This weekend he also mastered being able to change directions without having to hold on to anything. He can also push himself up from the floor to walk (sometimes).
Another milestone for my baby! I'm sure before I know it he and Macalan will be chasing each other all over the place. My boys are growing up too fast!

Interesting toy name

Grandma came to visit today and brought with her some fun Valentine presents. Sutton got a cute little cow that he loves to cuddle and hug. Macalan got a hippo. When I asked him what he wanted to name the hippo he said "Horsey Butt." Nice name bud. When I asked him again what he wanted to name the new toy he replied "The Butt." Butt has been a new word in his rather extensive vocabulary. Great to hear it's making its way into the stuffed animal name circulation. Maybe I'll try to convince him of a new name that doesn't include Butt tomorrow.